Wednesday, August 18, 2010

So I've been planning for our first year homeschooling. Kylan will have kindergarten this year and next year, so this is kind of a test run. He will be 5 in November. Waldorf education does not start academics until 1st grade, so it will be somewhat like a preschool. Circle time, crafts, art, lots of seasonal activities.

Basically we will have a weekly theme (or book) and 3 days of planned activities around that theme, for instance one week next month will be about apples.

Day 1- read books about apples/fall, paint apples

Day 2- visit a u-pick apple orchard

Day 3- Bake with apples and make apple butter

So here are our themes for the fall-

Sept.

week 1 Harvest

week 2 apples

week 3 autumn

week 4 autumn equinox

Oct

week 1 monarch butterflies

week 2 pumpkins

week3 leaves

week 4 Halloween

Nov

week 1 Lono and Cocoa Boata

week 2 cont.

week 3 light (candles)

week 4 Thanksgiving

Dec.

week 1 trees

week2 rain

week 3 winter solstice

week4 Christmas

week 5 off

I am planning on writing a more detailed schedule monthly, but this is the basic plan.

I have been finding crafts and books with the fall theme and it's made me think about planning for fall in other areas of our lives. We tend to do everything last minute...like buy firewood during the first big storm and have to run out and get a new tarp, etc. So writing a basic yearly schedule for our household is another thing on the agenda. I do love writing list. Not always so good at getting things done, but G is!

We are currently decluttering and deep cleaning, it's just that time of year isn't it!? I think another little juice fast is in order as well. Clean it out!

Are you (or someone you know of) planning on blogging about kindergarten homeschooling? Please let me know if you are so I can follow your blog, thanks!!

A few pictures from my birthday weekend (in July). We went camping in Big Sur and spent my birthday on my favorite beach...

32!

My boys in one of the many driftwood structures on the beach:)

Everest started yelling "a snake, a snake", I thought he was being silly, but finally saw this centipede (or millipede, idk) in the sand. Not exactly a snake. Although we did see a big snake on the 1 mile hike back to our car, G almost stepped on it, but I didn't get a picture...

The chickens- Well Sukey ended up being a rooster:( I wish we could have kept him, but Geoff dropped him off at a small farm this morning. So we have 4 hens, their coop and yard is built, but needs some finishing work, I'll post pictures later.

The Kids- Kylan got his own room. Basically. Its a small 7' by 9' room that was their playroom. He loves it and spends a lot of time in there although he still sleeps with us, which is fine, but when he's ready he has his own little space:) Evie would be doing great if he would just quit falling and bumping his head!

In the kitchen-I've been cooking like crazy! I did a 10 day juice fast last month, I was hoping to do it longer, but after a few unexpected expenses came up our budget it super tight. When ever we are this short on money I go into a cooking cooking frenzy. I just want to have plenty of food made so we won't spend money out!! So I've been baking our bread, making tortillas, homemade granola, black bean veggie burgers...I've had no problem using up all our zucchini...souffles, egg bakes, grated in sauces, grated in bean tacos, blackberry zucchini muffins, chocolate chip zucchini muffins... with cucumbers I make 'quick pickles' and yogurt cucumber dip. I made my first batch of kimchi, coleslaw, sauerkraut, cabbage pockets. Yay for garden veggies.We also have been picking lots of blackberries...we picked 6lbs this morning in our yard! yay for free wild food, now I just need to learn how to mushroom hunt!

Canning- I made melon marmalade a couple weeks ago with...crazy good! I used cantaloupe , oranges, and lemons. Today, it was sooo cool in the morning all I wanted to do is can and bake, so I made blackberry jam and tropical marmalade (pineapple, orange, lemon). That's all I've canned so far, but my stash of empty canning jars is motivating me to take advantage of these cooler days and fill 'em up!

Crafts- Yeah, not so much these days. I'm trying to knit a baby blanket here and there. Want to do more!

This is a lot of text with no pictures. Other news, I've been thinking a lot about planning Kylans first year of home school kindergarten, I plan on starting next month. More about that later...